The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 27

No doubt it was; for I was sick, my friend, From eating lately figs one day at noon.

And Nicophon says, in the Sirens--

But if a man should eat green figs at noon, And then go off to sleep; immediately A galloping fever comes on him, accursed, And falling on him brings up much black bile.

19. Diphilus of Siphnos says, that of figs some are tender, and not very nutritious, but full of bad juice, nevertheless easily secreted, and rising easily to the surface; and that these are more easily managed than the dry figs; but that those which are in season in the winter, being ripened by artificial means, are very inferior: but that the best are those which are ripe at the height of the summer, as being ripened naturally; and these have a great deal of juice; and those which are not so juicy are still good for the stomach, though somewhat heavy. And the figs of Tralles are like the Rhodian: and the Chian, and all the rest, appear to be inferior to these, both in the quality and quant.i.ty of their juice. But Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his treatise on Eatables, says--"But with respect to whatever of these fruits are eaten raw, such as pears, and figs, and Delphic apples, and such fruits, one ought to watch the opportunity when they will have the juice which they contain, neither unripe on the one hand, nor tainted on the other; nor too much dried up by the season." But Demetrius the Scepsian, in the fifteenth book of the Trojan Preparation, says, that those who never eat figs have the best voices. At all events, he says, that Hegesianax the Alexandrian, who wrote the Histories, was originally a man with a very weak voice, and that he became a tragedian and a fine actor, and a man with a fine voice, by abstaining from figs for eighteen years together.

And I know too that there are some proverbs going about concerning figs, of which the following are samples:--

Figs after fish, vegetables after meat.

Figs are agreeable to birds, but they do not choose to plant them.

20. Apples are an universal fruit. Mnesitheus the Athenian, in his treatise on Eatables, calls them Delphian apples; but Diphilus says, that "those apples which are green and which are not yet ripe, are full of bad juice, and are bad for the stomach; but are apt to rise to the surface, and also to engender bile; and they give rise to diseases, and produce sensations of shuddering. But of ripe apples, he says, that the sweet ones are those with most juice, and that they are the most easily secreted, because they have no great inflammatory qualities. But that sharp apples have a more disagreeable and mischievous juice, and are more astringent. And that those which have less sweetness are still pleasant to the palate when eaten; and, on account of their having some strengthening qualities, are better for the stomach. And moreover, that of this fruit those which are in season in the summer have a juice inferior to the others; but those which are ripe in the autumn have the better juice. And that those which are called ?????ata, have a good deal of sweetness combined with their invigorating properties, and are very good for the stomach. But those which are called s?t???a and also those which are called p?at???a, are full of good juice, and are easily secreted, but are not good for the stomach. But those which are called Mordianian are very excellent, being produced in Apollonia, which is called Mordius; and they are like those which are called ?????ata. But the Cydonian apples, or quinces, some of which are called st?????a, are, as a general rule, better for the stomach than any other kind of apple, most especially when they are full ripe."

But Glaucides a.s.serts that the best of all fruits which grow upon trees are the Cydonian apples, and those which are called phaulia, and strouthia. And Philotimus, in his third book, and also in his tenth book of his treatise on Food, says--"Of apples, those which come in season in spring are by far more indigestible than pears, whether they are both unripe, or whether they are both ripe. But they have the properties of juicy fruits; the sharp apples, and those which are not yet ripe, resembling those pears which have a harsher taste and which are in a certain degree sour; and they diffuse over the body a juice which is said to be corrosive. And, as a general rule, apples are not so digestible as pears; on which account those who are less addicted to eating them are less troubled with indigestions, and those who are most fond of them are the most liable to such inconvenience. But, as I said before, a corrosive juice is engendered by them, as is stated by Praxagoras, and as is shown by the fact that those things which are not digested will have the juice thicker. (And I have already said that, as a general rule, apples are less digestible than pears.) And the harsh and sour apples are in the habit of engendering thicker juices.

But of those apples which are in season in the winter, the Cydonian give out the more bitter juices, and those called strouthian give out juice more sparingly; though what they do give out is not so harsh tasted, and is more digestible." But Nicander of Thyatira says, that the Cydonian apples themselves are called st????e?a; but he says this out of ignorance.

For Glaucides a.s.serts plainly enough that the best of all fruits which grow on trees are the Cydonian apples and those called phaulian and strouthian.

21. Stesichorus also mentions the Cydonian apples, in his Helena, speaking thus:--

Before the king's most honour'd throne, I threw Cydonian apples down; And leaves of myrrh, and crowns of roses, And violets in purple posies.

Alcman mentions them too. And Cantharus does so likewise, in the Tereus; where he says--

Likening her bosom to Cydonian apples.

And Philemon, in his Clown, calls Cydonian apples strouthia. And Phylarchus, in the sixth book of his Histories, says that apples by their sweet fragrance can blunt the efficacy of even deadly poisons. At all events, he says, that some Phariacan poison having been cast into a chest still smelling from having had some of these apples stored away in it, lost all its effect, and preserved none of its former power, but was mixed and given to some people who were plotted against, but that they escaped all harm. And that afterwards it was ascertained, by an investigation and examination of the man who had sold the poison; and that he felt sure that it arose from the fact of the apples having been put away in the chest.

22. Hermon, in his Cretan Dialects, says that Cydonian apples are called ??d?a?a. But Polemo, in the fifth book of the treatise against Timaeus, says that some people affirm that the ??d?a??? is a kind of flower. But Alcman a.s.serts that it is the same as the st??????? apple, when he says, "less than a ??d?a???." And Apollodorus and Sosibius understand the Cydonian apple by ??d?a???. But that the Cydonian apple differs from the st???????, Theophrastus has a.s.serted clearly enough in the second book of his History. Moreover, there are excellent apples grown at Sidus, (that is, a village in the Corinthian territory,) as Euphorion or Archytas says, in the poem called "The Crane:"--

Like a beautiful apple which is grown on the clayey banks Of the little Sidus, refulgent with purple colour.

And Nicander mentions them in his Transformed, in this manner:--

And immediately, from the gardens of Sidoeis or Pleistus He cut green apples, and imitated the appearance of Cadmus.

And that Sidus is a village of the Corinthian territory, Rhia.n.u.s a.s.sures us, in the first book of the Heraclea; and Apollodorus the Athenian confirms it, in the fifth book On the Catalogue of the s.h.i.+ps. But Antigonus the Carystian says, in his Antipater--

More dear to me was he than downy apples Of purple hue, in lofty Corinth growing.

23. And Teleclides mentions the Phaulian apples, in his Amphictyons, in these terms:--

O men, in some things neat, but yet in others More fallen than phaulian apples!

And Theopompus also speaks of them, in the Theseus. But Androtion, in his Book of the Farm, says, that some apple-trees are called fa???a?, and others st?????a?; "for," says he, "the apple does not fall from the footstalk of the strouthian apple-tree." And that others are called spring-trees, or Lacedaemonian, or Siduntian, or woolly. But I, my friends, admire above all others the apples which are sold at Rome, which are called the Mattianian; and which are said to be brought from a certain village situated on the Alps near Aquileia. And the apples which grow at Gangra, a city of Paphlagonia, are not much inferior to them.

But that Bacchus was the discoverer of the apple we have the testimony of Theocritus the Syracusan, who writes thus:--

Guarding the apples in the bosom of Bacchus; And having on his head a poplar garland, The silv'ry tree, sacred to Theban Hercules.

But Neoptolemus the Parian testifies himself, in his Dionysias, that the apple was discovered by Bacchus, as were all other fruits which grow on trees.

There is a fruit called _epimelis_; which is, says Pamphilus, a description of pear. But Timachides a.s.serts, in the fourth book of The Banquet, that it is an apple, the same as that called the apple of the Hesperides. And Pamphilus a.s.serts that at Lacedaemon they are set before the G.o.ds; and that they have a sweet smell, but are not very good to eat; and are called the apples of the Hesperides. At all events, Aristocrates, in the fourth book of his Affairs of Lacedaemon, says, "And besides that apples, and those which are called Hesperides."

24. Walnuts are next to be mentioned.--Theophrastus, in the second book of his History of Plants, speaking of those whose fruit is not visible, says this among other things:--"Since the beginning of all the greater fruits is visible, as of the almond, the nut, the date, and other fruits of the same kind; except the walnut, in which that is not at all the case; and with the exception also of the pomegranate and of the female pear." But Diphilus of Siphnos, in his book about "What should be eaten by People when Sick and by People in Health," says--"The fruit called the Persian apple or peach, and by some the Persian cuckoo-apple, is moderately juicy, but is more nutritious than apples." But Philotimus, in the second and third books of his treatise on Food, says that the Persian nut or walnut is more oily and like millet, and that being a looser fruit, when it is pressed it yields a great quant.i.ty of oil. But Aristophanes the grammarian, in his Lacedaemonian Dialects, says that the Lacedaemonians call the cuckoo-apples Persian bitter apples; and that some people call them ?d??a.

25. The Citron was next mentioned.--And with respect to this fruit there was a great discussion among the Deipnosophists, as to whether there is any mention made of it by the ancients. For Myrtilus said, proposing, as it were, to send us who made the inquiry to feed among the wild goats, that Hegesander the Delphian, in his Memorials, does make mention of this fruit; but that he did not recollect the exact words: and Plutarch, contradicting him, said,--But I indeed contend, that Hegesander never mentions the citron at all, for I read through the whole of his Memorials for the express purpose of seeing whether he did or no; since some other of our companions also a.s.serted positively that he did, trusting to some scholastic commentaries of a man whom he considered respectable enough. So that it is time for you, my good friend Myrtilus, to seek for some other witness. But aemilia.n.u.s said, that Jobas the king of the Mauritanians, a man of the most extensive learning, in his History of Libya, does mention the citron, saying that it is called among the Libyans the Hesperian apple, and that they were citrons which Hercules carried into Greece, and which obtained the name of _golden_ apples on account of their colour and appearance. But the fruit which is called the apples of the Hesperides, is said to have been produced by Terra, on the occasion of the marriage of Jupiter and Juno, according to the statement of Asclepiades, in the sixtieth book of his History of the Affairs of Egypt. On this, Democritus, looking towards the speakers, said,--If, indeed, Jobas a.s.serts any of these things, let him take pleasure in his Libyan books, and in the nonsense of Hanno. But I repeat the a.s.sertion, that the name _citron_ does not occur in the old authors.

But the fruit which is described by Theophrastus the Eresian, in his Histories of Plants, is described in such a manner as to compel me to believe that he intended the citron by what he said.

26. For that philosopher says, in the fourth book of his History of Plants--"The Median territory, and likewise the Persian, has many other productions, and also the Persian or Median apple. Now, that tree has a leaf very like and almost exactly the same as that of the bay-tree, the arbutus, or the nut: and it has thorns like the p.r.i.c.kly-pear, or blackthorn, smooth but very sharp and strong. And the fruit is not good to eat, but is very fragrant, and so too are the leaves of the tree.

And if any one puts one of the fruits among his clothes, it keeps them from the moth. And it is useful when any one has taken poison injurious to life; for when given in wine it produces a strong effect on the bowels, and draws out the poison. It is serviceable also in the way of making the breath sweet; for if any one boils the inner part of the fruit in broth or in anything else, and then presses it in his mouth and swallows it, it makes his breath smell sweet. And the seed is taken out and is sown in spring in square beds, being very carefully cultivated; and then it is watered every fourth or fifth day; and when it has grown up it is again transplanted the next spring into a place where the ground is soft, and well-watered, and not very thin. And it bears fruit every year; some of which are fit to be gathered, and some are in flower, and some are becoming ripe at the same time. And those of the flowers which have a stem like a distaff projecting out of the centre are sure to produce good seed; but those which have no such stem are unproductive." And in the first book of the same treatise he says the same thing about the distaff, and about the flowers which are productive. And I am induced by these things, my mates, and by what Theophrastus says of the colour and smell and leaves of the fruit, to believe that the fruit meant by him is the citron; and let no one of you marvel if he says that it is not good to eat; since until the time of our grandfathers no one was used to eat it, but they put it away as a treasure in their chests along with their clothes.

27. But that this plant really did come from that upper country into Greece, one may find a.s.serted in the works of the Comic poets, who, speaking of its size, appear to point out the citron plainly enough.

Antiphanes says, in his Botian--

_A._ 'Tis silly to say a word about roast meat To men who're ne'er content. But now, my girl, Just take these apples.

_B._ They are fine to look at.

_A._ Indeed they are, and good too, O ye G.o.ds!

For this seed has arrived not long ago In Athens, coming from the mighty king.

_B._ I thought it came from the Hesperides; For there they say the golden apples grow.

_A._ They have but three.

_B._ That which is very beautiful Is rare in every place, and so is dear.

And Eriphus, in his Meliba, quotes these selfsame Iambics of Antiphanes, and then proceeds in his own words:--

_B._ I thought, I swear by Dian, that they came From out the garden of the Hesperides, For they, they say, do keep the golden apples.

_A._ They have but three.

_B._ That which is very beautiful Is rare in every place, and so is dear.

_A._ I'll sell you these now for a single penny, And even that I'll put down in the bill.

_B._ Are they not pomegranates? how fine they are!

_A._ Fine! yes--they say that Venus did herself Plant this the parent tree in Cyprus, where it stands.

Take it, my dear Berbeias.

_B._ Thank you kindly.

_A._ Take also these three; they are all I had.

And if any one is able to contradict this, and to show that these descriptions are not meant to apply to the fruit which we now call the citron, let him bring forward some clearer testimonies.